2026 RMAC Championship: Day 5 Recap

By: Ricky Baptist, Sports Information Director

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (February 14, 2026) – The University of Texas Permian Basin males’s and ladies’s swimming & diving groups closed out the 2026 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship with 10 college information, two Second-Team All-Conference honors (200 freestyle relay; Cooper Workman – 200 backstroke), and one NCAA “B” normal (Owen Putnam – 200 butterfly).

Throughout 5 days of competitors, the UTPB males’s crew completed fifth out of six groups. The Falcons put up 373 factors, a 51-point enchancment from final yr, and led sixth-place Adams State University (194.50 factors) by 178.50 factors. Colorado Mesa University gained its eighth straight and tenth total RMAC Championship on the boys’s facet with 1,234 factors. Colorado School of Mines (762.50 factors), Oklahoma Christian University (493 factors) and Simon Frazier University (487 factors) rounded out the top-four.

The UTPB ladies totaled 236 factors and completed eighth out of 9 groups, 125 factors in entrance of ninth-place Adams State (111 factors). Colorado Mesa gained its additionally gained its eighth-straight convention title on the ladies’s facet with 1,870.50 factors, 566 factors forward of second-place Colorado School of Mines with 1,304.50 factors.

The last day began with a Twenty fourth-place end within the ladies’s 100 freestyle prelims by Rowan McWhorter (54.45), who moved up six spots to complete 18th within the C Final with a time of 53.28 seconds. In the boys’s 100 freestyle, Niklas Heelein (46.15) was thirteenth, Brannan Espericueta (46.28) was 14th, and Kell Frazier (46.44) and Nico Turner (46.44) tied for fifteenth. In the B Final, Turner moved as much as twelfth place with a time of 45.76 seconds whereas Heelein (46.05) remained in thirteenth, Frazier (46.06) was 14th, and Espericueta (46.18) was fifteenth.

In the ladies’s 200 backstroke, Ava McCormack (2:14.82) completed nineteenth within the prelims and remained nineteenth with a time of two:11.99 within the C Final. In the boys’s 200 backstroke, freshman Cooper Workman began with a top-four end and a time of 1:51.18 within the prelims whereas Zane Garner was thirteenth with a time of two:05.35. In the B Final, Garner moved as much as twelfth place with a time of 1:57.54. In the A Final, Workman remained in fourth place, incomes Second-Team All-RMAC honors with a time of 1:49.35. For the second time throughout this championship meet, Workman rebroke his personal college file within the 200 backstroke as his altitude adjusted time of 1:48.15 broke his earlier adjusted file time of 1:48.74 set throughout a time trial on Wednesday.

In the prelims of the ladies’s 200 breaststroke, Avery Momotiuk was twenty third with a time of two:31.94 and remained twenty third within the C Final at 2:34.45. In the prelims of the boys’s 200 breaststroke, Sean Greene was twelfth with a time of two:08.76, Chase Alderman was thirteenth at 2:10.13, and Peyton Beard was fifteenth at 2:15.39. Then within the B Final, Greene earned the win (ninth total) with a time of two:04.73, Alderman (2:10.37) completed 14th, and Beard (2:12.00) remained in fifteenth. Beard improved upon his time by over three seconds from the prelims to the finals and earned a spot within the top-16 for the primary time as a freshman after ending 18th (second alternate) in two earlier occasions in the course of the championship.

UTPB’s high finisher within the ladies’s 1650 freestyle was Erika Hajduk in twenty sixth place with a time of 19:57.11. On the boys’s facet, Addison Richardson was 14th with a time of 17:36.94 whereas Mattson Uhlenhopp was fifteenth with a time of 18:32.74.

In the ladies’s 1-meter dive, Camilla Aguilar was sixth within the prelims with a rating of 378.30, and remained in sixth place within the finals at 376.05.

The last occasion of the meet was the 400 freestyle relay. The UTPB ladies’s A” team (Mackenzie Gingerich, Momotiuk, McCormack, McWhorter) was seventh with a time of 3:36.30, over a six-second improvement from last year’s seventh-place time. Looking to make it a perfect 5-for-5 on relay records, the UTPB men came up just short as the “A” team (Greene, Turner, Espericueta, Heelein) competed in the championship heat and finished fifth at 3:03.34 while the “B” team (Colin Doyle, Owen Putnam, Frazier, Logan Fultz) finished 11th but had an even better time at 3:02.85 (altitude adjusted time of 3:02.45), just 0.04 seconds off of breaking the school record of 3:02.41 set in 2018. Also of note, Fultz finished with the fastest 100 freestyle relay split in team history (44.51 seconds; altitude adjusted time of 44.41 seconds) during the “B” team’s near record-breaking performance.

Words from Head Coach Brian Schroeder: “We got here out and raced this night. We left all of it out on the desk. The final day is the toughest with drained muscle mass, however we nonetheless put up many private greatest swims. We had a tremendous season and I’m pleased with what this crew achieved.”

Senior Recognition Ceremony: Before the ultimate session on Saturday, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference acknowledged the seniors competing on the championship. Members of the UTPB males’s and ladies’s swimming & diving groups that have been acknowledged included: Erika Hajduk, Alondra Ortiz, Carlos Baca, Niklas Heelein, Owen Putnam and Owen Ward.

Record Breakers: Through all 5 days on the RMAC Championship, UTPB mixed to interrupt 10 college information (4 males’s relays, 2 ladies’s relay, 4 males’s people). The UTPB males broke a relay file in every of the primary 4 days of the meet, doing so within the 800 freestyle relay, 200 medley relay, 400 medley relay and the 200 freestyle relay, respectively, whereas the ladies broke information within the 200 medley relay and the 400 medley relay. Freshman Nico Turner performed an element in all 4 relay information set by males’s crew to associate with one particular person file (males’s 100 backstroke – relay leadoff cut up). Junior Colin Doyle was part of three relay information (200 medley relay, 400 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay) and one particular person file (males’s 100 butterfly). The last particular person information have been the boys’s 200 backstroke, reset twice by freshman Cooper Workman, and the boys’s 200 butterfly, set by senior Owen Putnam. On the ladies’s facet, the identical foursome of freshman Ava McCormack, freshman Avery Momotiuk, sophomore Rowan McWhorter and freshman Mackenzie Gingerich broke each relay information.

High Scorers: Below have been the top-four level scorers for each the UTPB women and men:

Men:

Sean Greene – 28 factors (T38th total)

Cooper Workman – 22 factors (T45th total)

Owen Putnam – 19 factors (T48th total)

Nico Turner – 19 factors (T48th total)

Women:

Camilla Aguilar – 49 factors (T52nd total)

Ava McCormack – 24 factors (T81st total)

Rowan McWhorter – 20 factors (86th total)

Avery Momotiuk – 7 factors (T99th total)

 

Men’s All-RMAC Performances (Top-4):

200 backstroke – fourth place – Cooper Workman – 1:49.35

 

Men’s A Finalists: (Top-8):

400 freestyle relay – fifth place – UTPB “A” crew (Sean Greene, Nico Turner, Brannan Espericueta, Niklas Heelein) – 3:03.34

 

Men’s B Finalists: (Top-16):

1650 freestyle – 14th place – Addison Richardson – 17:36.94

1650 freestyle – fifteenth place – Mattson Uhlenhopp – 18:32.74

100 freestyle – twelfth place – Nico Turner – 45.76

100 freestyle – thirteenth place – Niklas Heelein – 46.05

100 freestyle – 14th place – Kell Frazier – 46.06

100 freestyle – fifteenth place – Brannan Espericueta – 46.18

200 backstroke – twelfth place – Zane Garner – 1:57.54

200 breaststroke – ninth place – Sean Greene – 2:04.73

200 breaststroke – 14th place – Chase Alderman – 2:10.37

200 breaststroke – fifteenth place – Peyton Beard – 2:12.00

400 freestyle relay – eleventh place – UTPB “B” crew (Colin Doyle, Owen Putnam, Kell Frazier, Logan Fultz) – 3:02.85

 

Women’s A Finalists: (Top-8):

1-meter diving – sixth place – Camilla Aguilar – 376.05

400 freestyle relay – seventh place – UTPB “A” crew (Mackenzie Gingerich, Avery Momotiuk, Ava McCormack, Rowan McWhorter) – 3:36.30

 

Women’s B Finalists: (Top-16):

400 freestyle relay – sixteenth place – UTPB “B” crew (Alondra Ortiz, Lu-Lu Van Winkle, Gia Delgado, Erika Hajduk) – 4:01.19